Romney Makes First Iowa Stop as He Readies Presidential Run

May 27 (Bloomberg) -- Mitt Romney shrugged off an
interruption from a building’s fire alarm as he made his first
presidential campaign appearances of the year in Iowa today,
exploring a more robust presence in the state after Mike
Huckabee said he won’t seek the 2012 Republican nomination.

“I’ll be back in Iowa a number of times before the contest
is complete,” Romney, 64, told reporters outside an
agricultural software company in Ankeny, Iowa. “As to the
tactics of the campaign and where you devote your financial
resources and time resources, that’s something we’ll figure out
as we go along.”

The visit comes less than two weeks after the announcement
by Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor who won Iowa’s
Republican caucuses in 2008. His decision not to vie for the
chance to challenge President Barack Obama creates a political
opening for other Republicans in the state that holds the
nation’s first nomination contest.

It wasn’t a flawless first visit for Romney, who was
interrupted by a blaring fire alarm near the end of an
appearance at the State Historical Building in Des Moines.

“Oh, oh,” Romney said, as the alarm started going off.
“I wasn’t trying to get out of tough questions, I promise.”

The alarm kept starting and stopping, so Romney advised
people to exit the building.

Charred Popcorn

“I’ll take my message to the street if I need to,” he
later joked outside. Radio Iowa reported that the culprit was
burned popcorn inside the building.

Before he was interrupted, Romney said he thinks he has a
chance of winning the caucuses, scheduled for Feb. 6.

“I’d like to win if I could,” the former Massachusetts
governor said. “But in the final analysis, I want to win that
final race and say to Mr. Obama: you’re a nice guy, we like you,
you have a lovely family, and you have done your best. But
frankly, it’s time for somebody who understands how this country
works.”

In his 2008 bid for the Republican nomination, Romney
finished second to Huckabee in the Iowa caucuses, where 60
percent of the party participants described themselves in
entrance polls as born-again or evangelical Christians. Romney
hasn’t been a natural fit for that group, given his Mormon faith
and past support of abortion and gay rights.

Straw Poll

Even as he campaigned among Iowans today, Romney stopped
short of fully committing to an all-out campaign in the state,
including participation in the Iowa Straw Poll in August. The
carnival-like political event sponsored by the state party is
designed to test the organizational ability of presidential
candidates.

“We’ll give that good consideration,” he said of the
straw poll.

Romney won the 2007 straw poll after spending $2 million on
television ads and busing thousands of supporters to the
balloting where he fed them barbecue, handed out yellow “Team
Mitt” T-shirts, provided musical entertainment and bought their
$35 admission tickets.

Whatever his effort in Iowa this campaign, Romney praised
the state’s importance in the nomination process.

“I think you’ll see everybody who is intent on sitting in
the White House coming to Iowa and spending time here, debating
here, and just how we do that will probably be defined over time
by different candidates in different ways,” he said. “But I’m
here and hope that I will be able to build on the goodwill of a
number of my friends from last time around and hopefully add
some more friends this time.”

Medicare Issue

Romney told reporters he supports the House Republicans’
budget plan, authored by Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin,
that would end Medicare as a government health-care plan for the
elderly.

“I applaud Representative Ryan for putting a plan on the
table that acknowledges that Medicare can’t go on like it is
without ultimately hitting a wall,” he said.

Romney, though, declined to say whether he would sign the
legislation into law if he were president. Former Minnesota
Governor Tim Pawlenty, another Republican presidential
candidate, said this week that he would do so.

“That’s the kind of speculation that is getting the cart
ahead of the horse,” Romney said.

Ethanol Aid

Pawlenty, in his presidential announcement speech, called
for an end to federal subsidies for ethanol production, money
that benefits Iowa farmers by creating more demand for corn.
Romney said today he supports the aid program.

“Ethanol subsidies allow that industry to get up and
running and that’s something which I support,” he told Fox
News.

Romney’s campaign said yesterday he will formally announce
his candidacy on June 2 in New Hampshire, the second state in
the nomination calendar and one where he is better known because
of his past role as Massachusetts governor.

In remarks pointed at Romney this week, Iowa Governor Terry
Branstad, a Republican, cautioned against skipping his state.

“I do think it’s important to compete here and maybe you
don’t have to win, but doing relatively well -- and he’s
considered the national front-runner -- so I think being in the
top three is important in Iowa,” Branstad told reporters.

Nationally, Romney received the largest percentage of
support among the field of potential Republican candidates in a
Gallup poll released yesterday. He was supported by 17 percent
of the Republicans and Republican-leaning independents in the
poll, which was taken May 20-24 and has a margin of error of
plus or minus four percentage points.